


Movie

by somekindaspacecadet



Series: Decamber 2020 [6]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Academy Era, Decamber, Flashback, Gen, The Deca - Freeform, the first doctor - Freeform, this one is short but hopefully nice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:40:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27930898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somekindaspacecadet/pseuds/somekindaspacecadet
Summary: The Doctor restores an old video camera containing "home movies" from his days at the Academy.
Relationships: The Doctor & Susan Foreman, The Doctor | Theta Sigma/The Master | Koschei (Doctor Who: Academy Era), The Doctor/The Master (Doctor Who)
Series: Decamber 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2037277
Kudos: 18





	Movie

**Author's Note:**

> Day six of Decamber, I can't believe it's been almost a week already! As usual thanks to @starryeyedgazer for the prompts!

After a few more attempts at detangling the mess of wires in front of him, the Doctor finally clicked the right connections into place. He exhaled and leaned back against the base of the TARDIS console. Behind his back, he could feel it humming in its reassuring, constant rhythm. In the months since he had left Gallifrey, he and Susan and this TARDIS had developed a simple sort of routine. Around every 15 hours or so, the TARDIS dimmed its lights and quieted the buzz of its mechanics so that Susan and the Doctor could sleep. Or, more accurately, so that Susan could sleep. She’d created her own space in the TARDIS, a room not too far but not too close to the central console room. She’d decorated it with the few things she’d had time to retrieve in the hasty day when they’d left Gallifrey together, and over the past few months, she’d begun to gather small items and clothing here and there from the different places they’d traveled. The Doctor had watched the shift in Susan’s mood as she grew from resigned and fearful to more curious and hopeful. Maybe they could live like this, he thought. Maybe this TARDIS could be home after all.

Maybe, if he could convince himself to fall asleep.

The Doctor was startled out of his train of thought as the video screen in front of him flashed to life. It was small and low quality, and he’d had to try five times before he’d found a human in the right time period who could repair it for him. But after a few hours and some creative manipulation of his sonic screwdriver, the stored film could finally be replayed. He shifted-- this body was really beginning to wear out-- and stared as a scene faded into view on the screen.

The camera was pointed at a stone-flagged floor. A pair of shoes swayed in and out of the frame, the view quaking along with the videographer’s walk. Sounds of a loud crowd chattering and walking filled the background. The camera swung abruptly upward, and a young man came into view from the shoulders up. He was wearing traditional red Prydonian robes, the color the Doctor knew to be vivid scarlet muted through the screen. As soon as the camera was turned on him, he grinned, winked, and blew a kiss at the camera in a series of exaggerated poses. The man and the person behind the camera both laughed. The Doctor smiled. Rallon had never hesitated to join in on his ridiculous games and jokes-- he’d matched the Doctor’s energy every time, always supportive of whatever put a smile on his face that day.

The video cut to a different clip, this time featuring the inside of a large lecture hall. The person holding the camera was sitting at the top, furthest away from the speaker at the bottom. The lecture itself was barely audible, but as a hand appeared in the frame, tossing a ball of paper at the back of a girl’s head in the next row, the snigger accompanying the girl’s glare was loud and clear. “Stop that!” hissed a voice close to the camera. “Put that away, Theta!” The camera shook and rustled and cut out again.

The next shot was more clear and steady. The camera zoomed in in increments, focusing on the silhouette of a boy against a vibrant red sunset. He was dangling his legs off of the roof he was sitting on, and had a blanket pulled around himself. “Oh my gods, that might be the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,” the Doctor heard his younger voice say from the screen. “I wonder if he’s single! Hello, sir, could you come here? I urgently require you to put your lips on my lips!” The younger Doctor laughed as his best friend turned around and swatted at the camera, an amused smile on his face.

Short clips continued to flicker across the screen. Ushas in her laboratory, concentrating over a row of glass vials. Millennia brushing her hair. Mortimus showing off a yellow rose. Drax grinning and holding two thumbs up as he emerged from his room in a cloud of soot. Jelpax building a tower out of library books. Magnus trying to persuade Vansell to test a sip of a strange concoction in a tall glass. Koschei studying, Koschei laughing, Koschei playing along with the Doctor’s mock interview questions. The Doctor had forgotten how many little memories he’d captured on this old camera. He remembered it being amusing for a while, and then eventually getting shoved into a box somewhere and forgotten about, left to collect dust and be found again one day. And so it had, he supposed. A collage of a life that was now almost foreign to him. A planet full of people he sometimes wondered if he’d ever see again.

The screen displayed the video camera’s final clip. “Have you got it working?” Susan peered at the lens and then smiled. “Well, look at that! It still records after all these years. That’s wonderful, Grandfather. May I watch the other recordings?”

“Once I’ve figured out how to display them. We’ll see.” The screen clicked and went blank.

Yes, it was worth holding onto, the Doctor supposed. He’d at least show Susan the videos before he boxed it away again. After all, she’d never even gotten to meet many of those people. Ushas had only visited twice, once on Susan’s Naming Day and again on her Initiation, just as she had for Susan’s father (if you could call them visits-- Ushas was never one for social niceties). Jelpax only sent the occasional message, and Magnus would hold longer conversations or calls. Drax and Mortimus hadn’t contacted them in years. And of course, Susan knew who Vansell was in his official capacity, but Vansell preferred to pretend as if the Doctor didn’t exist on the best of days.

Things would be different now, of course. It was a miracle the Doctor had made it as long as he had without Vansell or one of his underlings coming after him. Maybe they were coming after him, or maybe they’d lost interest and were truly glad to see him go.

The Doctor carefully tugged the wires out of their sockets and wrapped them around the camera and display to keep them sorted. He tucked the bundle into a nook below the console and pulled himself to his feet with a groan. “Okay, now,” he sighed, eyes poring over the console controls. “It’ll be tomorrow before we know it. Better get a move on.” 

The TARDIS hummed, and the Doctor began pulling up astronomical and temporal maps to leaf through. It would be hours before Susan woke up, but he wanted to have an enticing adventure ready for her when she did.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr: @wild-endeavor


End file.
